The Undercroft dorm was quiet when Nyra returned.
She had barely sat down on her bunk when a knock came at the door. Marek looked up from his packing. Jasper didn’t look up from his book but his eyes stopped moving.
"I’ll get it," Nyra said.
She opened the door. A junior student she didn’t recognize stood in the corridor, looking nervous.
"Prince Thorne? Senior Corvin is outside. He says he needs to speak with you. Urgently."
Nyra’s brow furrowed. "Now?"
"Yes, Your Highness. He’s waiting by the east entrance."
She grabbed her cloak and stepped out. Corvin was there, leaning against the stone wall, his dark hair slightly disheveled by the evening wind. When he saw her, he straightened.
"Walk with me," he said. It wasn’t a question.
"Where?"
"The lake. I know you go there. I know it’s where you think." He held out his hand. "Please."
Nyra hesitated. Then she took his hand.
They walked in silence through the darkening corridors, past the training grounds and the garden and the willow curtain. The lake was black glass under the evening sky, the first stars beginning to prick through the velvet dark.
"You’re nervous," Corvin said.
"Everyone keeps telling me that."
"Because it’s true. And because you should be. The Mistwood isn’t safe. Your team isn’t safe. Draven wants you dead. Valeria wants... something. And I can’t be there to watch your back."
"I have Soren."
"Yes. You have Soren." His voice was carefully neutral. "And I’m sure he’ll protect you. He’s very good at that."
The night pressed against the academy , unknown to them someone else was watching them.
Soren stood in the shadows of the east wing, watching Corvin lead Nyra toward the lake. His hands were clenched at his sides. His jaw was granite. Every instinct screamed at him to follow, to intervene, to put himself between them and demand to know what Corvin was doing with her.
He didn’t move.
But his wolf did.
You see this? Kael’s voice was a snarl in his skull, pacing like a caged beast. You see what’s happening? He’s making his move. Right now. While you stand here like a statue.
"I see it."
Then do something! Go after her. Stop them. She’s ours, not his. She’s always been ours.
"She’s not ours. She’s not anyone’s."
She’s our mate! The word was a roar, echoing through Soren’s bones. I chose her the moment she fell into our arms. You felt it. You know you felt it. And now the serpent is slithering in while you stand here doing nothing.
"Corvin isn’t—"
He’s touching her. Holding her hand. Walking her to the lake like she’s his. Kael’s fury was a living thing, hot and clawing. And you let her go. In the corridor after the briefing, she pulled away from you, and you just let her go. What did you expect? That she’d wait forever while you figured out your feelings?
Soren’s teeth ground together. "I told you to stay out of this."
You don’t get to shut me out. I’m you. I’m the part of you that knows what it wants. You’re the one who’s too afraid to admit it.
"Afraid?"
Yes. Afraid. You’re afraid of what it means to want her. Afraid of the bond. Afraid of what your father will say, what the academy will say, what everyone will say when they find out the prince is a woman and you’ve been in love with her since the day she arrived.
"I’m not in love with her."
Liar. Kael’s voice dripped with contempt. You gave her your mother’s pendant. You never take that thing off. You’ve worn it every day since you were twelve years old. And you gave it to her. Not Valeria. Not anyone else. Her.
Soren had no answer.
You should have claimed her weeks ago. The moment you found out what she was. But you waited. You hesitated. And now Eldritch is making his move, and you’re standing in the shadows like a coward.
"Enough."
It’s not enough. It will never be enough. You’re losing her, Soren. Right now. While we stand here.
"I said enough!"
He slammed the mental door between them with a force that made his skull ache. Kael’s voice cut off mid-snarl, leaving a hollow silence that was somehow worse than the rage.
He walked toward the lake.
He stopped at the willow curtain, the same place he’d found her crying weeks ago. Through the hanging branches, he could see them Nyra and Corvin, standing at the water’s edge. Corvin was holding her hand. Speaking words Soren couldn’t hear from this distance. His face was intense, earnest, completely unlike the cold mask he wore around everyone else.
Nyra was listening. Her silver hair caught the starlight, and even from here, Soren could see the way her shoulders had relaxed, the way she wasn’t pulling away from Corvin the way she’d pulled away from him in the corridor.
She trusts him.
The thought was a knife between his ribs.
Corvin said something else. Nyra’s hand went to the pendant at her throat his pendant, his mother’s pendant and Soren’s heart twisted. She was wearing it. She was wearing it while another man held her hand.
He couldn’t watch anymore.
He turned and walked away, his footsteps silent on the cold stone, his expression carved from ice. The image followed him Corvin’s hand in hers, the way she hadn’t pulled back, the ease between them that she and Soren had never quite managed.
You’re losing her.
He’d shut Kael out, but the words echoed anyway.
Corvin and Nyra continued their walk without noticing what was happening behind them
They reached the water’s edge. Nyra pulled her hand from his and wrapped her arms around herself.
"Why did you bring me here, Corvin?"
"Because I wanted to say something to you. Something I couldn’t say in the briefing room with everyone watching." He turned to face her. "I’ve been studying your blood for weeks. Running tests. Cross-referencing texts that haven’t been opened in a hundred years. And I’ve found something."
Nyra’s heart stopped. "What?"
"I know what you are."
The words hung in the air between them. The lake lapped gently at the shore. Somewhere in the distance, an owl called.
"I know about the Moonblood lineage. I know it passes from mother to daughter. I know there hasn’t been a Moonblood daughter in generations at least, not one that was acknowledged." His voice dropped. "I know you’re not Prince Thorne. I know you’re his sister."
Nyra couldn’t breathe. "Corvin—"
"I’m not going to expose you." He stepped closer. "I told you before. Whatever your secret is, it’s yours. But I need you to know that I know. And I need you to understand something else."
"What?"
"I didn’t figure this out because I wanted to use it against you. I figured it out because I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Because every time I looked at you, something pulled at me. Something I couldn’t explain." He reached out and took her hand again. "The mate bond. It’s real. And it’s not just Soren you’re bound to."
Nyra stared at him. "What are you saying?"
"I’m saying you have two mates. Two Alphas bound to you by fate. Soren is one." His fingers tightened around hers. "I’m the other."
The silence was absolute.
"That’s impossible," she whispered. "The Goddess said—"
"The Goddess told you about the wolf and the serpent. I know. I’ve read the texts. The old prophecies. Two Alphas, one vessel. Two halves of a single bond." His eyes burned into hers. "I’m the serpent, Nyra. And whether you want me or not, I’m yours."
Nyra pulled her hand away. "I don’t—I can’t—"
"I’m not asking you to decide anything right now. I’m not asking you to choose." He stepped back, giving her space. "But I needed you to know before you went into that forest. Whatever happens in the Mistwood, you’re not just fighting for yourself. You’re fighting for people who need you to come back."
"Soren—"
"Soren knows. Maybe not the specifics, but his wolf knows. It’s why he’s been acting the way he has. It’s why he gave you that pendant." Corvin nodded toward her throat. "He’s bound to you too. And he’s been fighting it just as hard as I have."
Nyra touched the pendant. Soren’s mother’s pendant. A promise.
"I don’t know what to do," she admitted.
"No one does. That’s the point." Corvin almost smiled. "We’re all just figuring it out as we go. But I meant what I said earlier. If something happens to you in that forest, I will burn it down. And I think Soren would help me."
They stood at the water’s edge, the stars reflected in the black glass of the lake.
"Come back," Corvin said quietly. "That’s all I ask. Come back, and we’ll figure out the rest together."
Nyra nodded slowly. "I’ll try."
"Try hard."
He walked her back to the dormitory in silence. At the door, he pressed something into her hand—a small vial, different from the one he’d given her before.
"Dreamless sleep," he said. "For tonight. You’ll need your rest."
"Thank you."
"Don’t thank me. Just survive."
He walked away into the darkness.
Nyra felt it as she walked back to the dormitory.
A prickle at the back of her neck. The sense of eyes on her, watching from somewhere in the darkness.
She stopped. Turned. The corridor behind her was empty. The torches flickered in their sconces, casting dancing shadows across the stone walls. Nothing moved. No one was there.
"Hello?" Her voice echoed strangely. No answer.
She stood still for a long moment, scanning the shadows. The feeling didn’t fade. Someone had been watching her. Someone had been following her. But whoever it was, they were gone now.
Or they were very good at hiding.
Fear, she told herself. It’s just fear. The Mistwood. The mission. Everything that’s coming. Your mind is playing tricks on you.
She touched the pendant at her throat. Soren’s pendant. The warmth of it steadied her.
Then she walked on, faster now, and didn’t look back.